


All in the Mind

by bugheadjones



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 18:55:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11697831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bugheadjones/pseuds/bugheadjones
Summary: Dick and Mac have a surprising conversation the morning after Logan and Veronica's wedding.





	All in the Mind

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on LiveJournal in 2007. 
> 
> I don't own these characters. I'm just playing with them.

Mac tightened the white robe around her body as she walked to the door and swung it open with a very enthusiastic grin on her face. Her smile faltered slightly when she was met face to face with Dick.   
  
"Did you forget something?" She lifted an eyebrow and stared at him.  
  
"Umm." He stepped slightly into the room, lightly touching her arm as he did. "Yeah."  
  
She stood back and tightened the robe again until he finally moved toward the door. She looked at him in confusion until he rushed back into the room. Then she was just left with a tall, blond man kissing her in front of an open door.   
  
\---   
  
_Eleven Hours Earlier_  
  
Dick kept his eyes glued to the back of his best friend's head as Logan looked at Veronica and repeated the man standing in front of them. He sighed a little too loudly when the man finally said that Logan and Veronica were married and Mac could tell that he was trying not to shift from one foot to the other.   
  
He looked over and met her eyes before looking back at Logan's head and they both waited for him and Veronica to step down the steps in front of the two hundred or however many guests. Dick walked to the middle of the stage and met Mac before almost roughly jutting his arm out at her and waited for her to take it before rolling his eyes and almost pulling her down the steps.  
  
"What is your problem?" She kept her eyes glued to the door at the end of the room and waited for his response. When he didn't respond she looked at him and shot her eyebrows up, urging him to finally get it out. It wasn't like they were in high school anymore. Hell, they weren't even in college. Even he had to mature a little and actually have a _reason_ for being such a dick to her.  
  
He met her eyes before lowering his head toward her ear and whispering the five words that would probably make her kill him.  
  
"I just don't like you."   
  
\---   
  
Mac was surprised that it only took her the twenty minutes they had been at the Grand for the reception and one shot of vodka to get tipsy and, judging by Dick's ability to walk to the elevator completely straight, it took him a lot longer. She was sure that he had already had at least five drinks in the past twenty minutes and that didn't include what he had before and after the wedding.   
  
She stood and made her way toward the door and then walked to the receptionist desk. She may have been just tipsy, but she knew for sure that she was in no shape to drive to her apartment across town.   
  
"Are there any singles available? For just tonight." She held her credit card toward the girl behind the desk and then reached into her purse for her ID.  
  
"Are you with the Echolls-Mars party?"  
  
"Yes, I am."  
  
"Mr. Echolls is such a treasured past resident of ours that we offered all of his guests that might need to stay a Regency room. You'll be room...." The girl typed something into the computer and handed her a key card. "1005. Enjoy your evening, Miss Mackenzie."  
  
"Thanks. You too."  
  
She walked to the elevator and waited patiently for it to come to the first level. She absently wondered what room they had given Dick and instantly shook her head to shake the thoughts. It had to have been the vodka.   
  
She would admit that she didn't dislike Dick near as much as she did in high school or college, but he was still the same Dick that he was _before_ and there was nothing even remotely mature or attractive about him still. He was still Dick and she was still Mac, but... there was something there.  
  
\---  
  
It took her ten minutes after getting out of the shower before she realized that she didn't have anything to wear. Suddenly she was eighteen again and confused and then she remembered that she was twenty three and just not prepared for overnight stays at swanky hotels.  
  
She looked around the room and decide to just sleep in the complimentary robe and pulled the sheets back before crawling into bed. The tie on the robe was slightly uncomfortable and bumpy no matter which way she was laying on the bed, but finally she loosened it and decided to lay on her stomach. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't interrupt her trying to lull herself to sleep. She fell asleep within a matter of just a few minutes and everything was completely calm until seven hours later.  
  
The morning started like any other, aside from the fact that she still had no clothes - although she had sent the ones that she did have to cleaning - and she was in a hotel room that was larger than her one bedroom apartment all together. Still, her routine was pretty normal. She turned on the coffee pot while she took a shower and sat down to the newspaper afterward, waiting for the room service to bring her the fruit salad she had ordered. So that wasn't completely normal, but she did always have breakfast. After she ate, she put on some music and worked on a resume that she found stuffed into her purse and then the crossword puzzle from the newspaper.   
  
Despite the change of scenery and the fact that she had no clothes to change into, everything was fine until she opened the door to the room.   
  
"Oh. It's you."  
  
She inwardly groaned at the familiar voice before looking up from the morning greeting that had been inserted into the card slot and smiled.   
  
"Is that a problem?"  
  
"I was totally thinking that I could probably hook up with some hot bride's maid, but it's just you."  
  
"I was a bride's maid. In fact, I was the most important one. I'd think you'd be happy to see me."  
  
She smiled inwardly at the faint blush that covered his cheeks as he realized his mistake and then turned to walk back into the room.  
  
"Wait."   
  
She stopped in the door way and turned a little too fast and had to hold the robe in place from the movement. Easy, girl.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Can we talk?" Dick Casablancas wanted to have a _chat_?  
  
"Sure." And she was agreeing. In nothing but a robe. Good job.  
  
\---  
  
"If you're here to list off the _reasons_ you just don't like me, you're going to have to make it a little quicker. I'm leaving soon."  
  
"I don't hate you. I mean, like, I don't not like you. I was lying because I didn't want to tell you that I didn't not like you. Because, seriously, that's just weird."  
  
Mac swallowed around the lump in her throat and walked over the mini bar and reached into the tiny refrigerator for a bottle of water. She had no idea if room service and the bar were on Logan's tab, but she'd deal with the five dollar bottle of water later. She looked up and found Dick staring at the door like he had never seen one before and she moved back across the room before opening the bottle.   
  
"I don't hate you either. I had to get used to you when you were living with Logan and I was there with Veronica a lot. It was bound to happen."  
  
She smiled before taking a sip of the water and then sat down next to him on the couch.  
  
"And, you know, Logan and Ronnie did it. They hated each other and now they're married. Maybe..."  
  
"Maybe what?" She hadn't meant for her voice to come out in a whisper, but this was probably the most intense conversation she had ever had and it was four years in the making.  
  
"Maybe we can hang out. You know, like at coffee shops and at the movies and stuff."  
  
"I'd like that."  
  
"Sweet. I'm just going to go back to my room since you're leaving or whatever." He stood up and smiled before turning and walking to the door and opening it.   
  
She stood and placed the water on the table before tightening the robe and walking to the end of the couch.  
  
"And nice robe, Mackenzie."  
  
She laughed before walking closer to the door and slapping him on the arm. "I didn't have a change of clothes!"  
  
"You just wanted to tease me."  
  
"I had no idea that you were going to be over here."  
  
"So, you would have if you did know?"  
  
"Don't you have to watch Logan and Veronica's house while they're on their honeymoon? You might want to go let Backup out now."  
  
"Fine. I'll leave. I'm right across the hall if you want to tease me some more."  
  
"Shut up and go!" She pushed him out of the open door and shut it quickly behind him.  
  
\---  
  
Mac looked at herself in the mirror and surveyed the four years of changes. Slightly longer, completely brown hair. She hadn't put colors in her hair in two years. She was still getting used to it, but she liked to be taken seriously at the computer companies she was interested in. She looked at her eyebrows, which Veronica and Parker had forced her to get waxed for the wedding, and groaned when she remembered the lady ripping off the strip of cloth from the skin. They looked better than plucking, but she was never going back to that spa again. Thirty dollars for something she could do for free?   
  
She hadn't changed too much and that made her wonder just how long Dick had been attracted. If he was, in fact, attracted. Maybe he just wanted to be her friend. He had mentioned Logan and Veronica, but they had tried to be friends in college. It had only lasted two months, but they had done it. That's probably exactly what he wanted and _he_ was the one being the tease.   
  
She looked down at the robe and laughed at the thought that she was teasing someone. Right.   
  
There was a knock on the door and she smiled at the thought of her clothes finally being cleaned. She would admit that she liked staying in a hotel, but she had grown attached the her apartment. It was small, but it was nice and all hers.  
  
Mac tightened the white robe around her body as she walked to the door and swung it open with a very enthusiastic grin on her face. Her smile faltered slightly when she was met face to face with Dick.   
  
"Did you forget something?" She lifted an eyebrow and stared at him.  
  
"Umm." He stepped slightly into the room, lightly touching her arm as he did. "Yeah."  
  
She stood back and tightened the robe again until he finally moved toward the door. She looked at him in confusion until he rushed back into the room. Then she was just left with a tall, blond man kissing her in front of an open door.  
  
She pulled away first, unwilling to let go completely. She left her right hand on his arm as she looked up at him.  
  
"I thought you were my clothes."  
  
He grinned before dipping his head down again and smiled against her lips. "I told you you were a tease."  
  
She smiled before pulling away again. "How so?"  
  
"You just reminded me that you didn't have any clothes on."  
  
"...oh. I also have to remind you that the door is open."  
  
He kicked the door shut before kissing her again and pulling her toward the couch. At least she wouldn't have to wonder if he was attracted anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
